Rising is back for sixteen nights across three weekends from June 1-16. As a chill settles over the city, the festival returns with a nocturnal vengeance boasting a packed line-up of 116 events. Choose from a mix of free and ticketed options for performances and installations encompassing theatre, music, dance and art.
Wander through large-scale installations, micro-bars and everything in between as our landmarks and labyrinthine laneways are drenched in a new light. A whopping 651 Australian and international artists will gather to warm Melbourne’s spirits, in a festival celebrating contemporary creativity of all kinds. There’ll be eight Australian premieres, six global premieres and 32 new commissions – nice!
This year, the festival’s action-packed Night Trade Hub will sprawl through the laneways around the Capitol Theatre to Howey Place, featuring interactive art, dumplings, dance and more — with free entry. The line-up for this area has also recently been expanded to include psychic readings, karaoke and a full club program. Night Trade Stage Door will host six different late-night DJ parties throughout the festival, for those who want to dance with somebody.
Down the road, Fed Square will play host to The Blak Infinite, a vibrant free program of First People’s art and politics. Kimberley Moulton (the curator behind last year’s Shadow Spirit installation) and Kate ten Buuren (Taungurung) have curated the expansive exhibition, anchored by Embassy, Richard Bell’s installation inspired by the original Aboriginal Tent Embassy pitched in Canberra in 1972. Immersive projections by Tarryn Love will light up the nights and a monumental free sound work called The Rivers Sing returns by the Birrarung, echoing waterway singing traditions.
Another highlight is the much–anticipated Australian debut of S. Shakthidharan’s Counting and Cracking, a three-act Sri Lankan-Australian epic playing at the new Union Theatre. Plus, make sure you you sit down for intimate dinner party performance Food for an absurd dining experience you'll never forget. Then stretch those hamstrings and prepare for a nonstop track that includes treadmills and trampolines with Flemish-born One Song.
If it’s an aural feast you’re after, this year’s music line-up delivers. There’s a headline show from viral Sydney stars OneFour alongside appearances from influential hip hop artist Yasiin Bey and Aussie instrumentalists Dirty Three. Indie sleaze darling Sky Ferreira will also be flying in for her first local show since 2015.
For those in the mood to really get their groove on, Rising’s new day party Day Tripper is an eight hour party that moves sideways through Swanston Street at multiple venues. Kick off at Melbourne Town Hall to catch Yasiin Bey (FKA Mos Def) perform his tribute to MF Doom. Then make sure to keep your eyes and ears peeled for London's elusive post-punks Bar Italia. Across the road at Max Watt's, celebrate 21 years of Melbourne cult-duo HTRK.
Keep wandering down Swanston Street and you’ll see the facade of the state library emblazoned with a digital sign displaying rapidly accumulating numbers, representing the debt owed to First Nations people by the Australian Government since 1901. While inside the state library, you'll find a collection of photographs from famed Melbourne photographer Rennie Ellis that you can check out for free.
According to Rising co-artistic directors Hannah Fox and Gideon Obarzanek, the most important part of Rising is “coming together to be thrilled, bemused, shaken or delighted”. If that sounds like something you want to read more about, you can view the full festival program at the festival website, where tickets are also available.
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